The Sunshine State In Color : The Autochromes Of Charles Zoller

Selina Lamberti

doi:10.32920/ryerson.14653440

Abstract

Charles C. Zoller (1856-1934) was prolific photographer and native of Rochester, New York. His archive is held at George Eastman International Museum of Photography and Film and consist of over 8,000 photographic objects, just under 4,000 of which are autochrome plates. This thesis focuses on the approximately 317 Zoller autoochromes of Florida that make up a small fraction of the fonds This thesis furthermore considers the visual representatin of Florida in color in the early twentieth century and compares tropes in this imagery to Zoller's representation of the Sunshine State. Traveling and photographing extensively in North America and Europe, Zoller produced both color images with Lunière Autochrome plates and black-and-white images with various photographic products. Upon return to Upstate New york, Zoller gave lectures on a variety of topics, illustrating these lectures with projected autochromes and lantern slides. Since there are few know autochromes of Florida, Zoller's series are some of the earliest examples of color photographs of the state. While Zoller's images are often predictable representations of Florida, they nevertheless provide a window into how Florida was presented in the early part of the last century. This thesis compares Zoller's autochromes to other popular images of Florida in that time.

Highlights

Over the past century and a half, photographs have been used ‘in a multiplicity of ways’, and in profoundly influential ways to shape modern geographical imaginations
From daguerreotypes to digital images, from picture postcards to magazine illustrations, photographic images have been an integral part of our engagement with the physical and human world
Zoller didn’t create Florida’s image; that had happened well before his travels to the state. His use of the autochrome process and his traveling lecture series, provide a vivid reminder of how photography captured the imagination of the American public in the early twentieth century as well as influenced the development of identity of place

Summary

Introduction

Over the past century and a half, photographs have been used ‘in a multiplicity of ways’, and in profoundly influential ways to shape modern geographical imaginations. Since there are few known autochromes of Florida, Zoller’s series are some of the earliest examples of color photographs of the state. This thesis compares Zoller’s autochromes to other popular images of Florida in that time.

Results

Conclusion